Riverside County District Attorney

Operation Eastern Encore Takes Down Indio Gang Members

South Side Indio, Jackson Terrace and Campo targeted in gang injunction

Indio — Today, December 7, 2010, Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco, Indio Police
Chief Bradley S. Ramos, representatives from the Untied States Attorney’s Office, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with several other law enforcement leaders
announced the results of an 18-month investigation into hundreds of Indio gang members.
Today’s anti-gang operation is the largest in the history of Riverside County.

This operation sends a clear message to the hundreds of gang members that call Indio their
home, said Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco. Criminal street gangs will be
aggressively opposed by law enforcement using resources at every level of government.

Beginning early this morning, approximately 1,000 law enforcement officers from 42 city,
county, state and federal agencies targeted about 450 locations of known gang members, gang
associates and other felons within the city of Indio. The officers executed state and federal
arrest warrants and search warrants that were prepared during the course of the operation.

The operation was conducted in conjunction with the service of a gang injunction lawsuit
against 126 known gang members of the South Side Indio, Jackson Terrace and Campo criminal
street gangs. The gang injunction seeks to limit otherwise legal behavior for gang members
within a designated safety zone. Behaviors such as associating with other gang members,
staying out past curfew, wearing gang clothing and flashing gang signs become a criminal
offense for which a gang member can be arrested under the gang injunction. The safety zone
has a 13.8-mile perimeter which contains 17 schools and seven parks.

The Operation Eastern Encore team was modeled after Team DHS which was first deployed to
Desert Hot Springs during Operation Falling Sun. The team included gang investigators, deputy
district attorneys and support personnel from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office,
the Indio Police Department, the FBI, the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement and the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The team led the 18-month investigation
into gang activity which culminated with the large-scale operation that took place today.

Indio is home to approximately 695 known gang members belonging to seven criminal street
gangs. Gang members from North Side Indio, South Side Indio, Campo, Jackson Terrace, Penn
West, Mecca Vineyards, Reservation Boys, Valle Coachella Rifa, 12th Street Mafia, Tre Nine, Four
Trey, and Barrio Dream Homes were investigated or contacted by law enforcement during
Operation Eastern Encore.

We will aggressively hunt down this criminal element and surgically remove criminal street
gang members and their associates from our community by using our combined resources,
said Indio Police Chief Bradley S. Ramos. This is a mandate from our community, and we will
be diligent with our enforcement of the civil gang injunction as we move forward today and in
the future.

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Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives United States Department of Justice